Despite the growing interest in outdoor activities and government efforts to improve hiking and cycling facilities, such pursuits remain a faraway dream for many people with disabilities.
“Some things may be easy for people without a handicap, but for those who are physically challenged, they are rife with difficulties,” said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如), who organized a public hearing on accessibility at public places.
Chen, whose son has multiple mental and physical disabilities, said her son’s difficulties in doing such seemingly simple things as exiting the Taipei Railway Station and taking a shower in a hotel were in evidence during a trip to Kaohsiung last week.
“The hotel we stayed at — a top-class hotel, whose name I’m not going to disclose — does not have any accessible rooms [for individuals with disabilities],” Chen said. “He couldn’t even take a shower on his own because there were no facilities to accommodate people in his condition.”
When they returned to Taipei on the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) and needed to go through areas administered by the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) at the Taipei Railway Station, Chen found that the elevator was shut down.
“We asked THSR employees for help. They said the elevator was under the TRA’s jurisdiction, so they couldn’t do anything about it,” she said. “Only after I told TRA employees I’m a lawmaker did they finally turn the elevator on.”
Chen’s isn’t an isolated case.
Association of Spinal Cord Injury Taipei member Huang Hsin-yi (黃欣儀), who relies on a wheelchair, said there are road blocks at the entrances of most hiking and cycling trails in national parks and scenic areas.
“They said the road blocks are there to prevent scooters from entering, but they also block wheelchairs,” Huang said.
When her organization took a group of about 40 people on wheelchairs to a hiking trail along the northeastern coast, she said, “volunteers, and even coast guard members, had to carry the wheelchairs over the road blocks.”
Liu Chun-lin (劉俊麟), a father of two children who need wheelchairs, said it was no small irony that his children could only move around without trouble when abroad.
Last year, Liu and his wife took their children to Japan, and this year they visited Austria and Switzerland.
“Public facilities in those countries are quite mindful of people with disabilities,” Liu said. “Though Taiwan is a developed country, we need more than just economic development.”
“There are so many scenic areas around the country, but for those who are physically challenged, they can only visit those places in their dreams,” Access for All in Taiwan project manager Chen Ming-li (陳明里) said at the hearing.
Ministry of the Interior figures show that there are more than 1 million people with disabilities in Taiwan, with as many as 36 percent of senior citizens having physical disabilities because of age, he said.
“These people are just like any other citizens. They deserve more from the government,” Chen Ming-li said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS